The characters in this affecting and magnificent tale of C19th village life are superbly imagined through exquisite, often very funny dialogue. The characters in this magnificent tale of vil... read more
First published in 1908, the brilliance of this superb novel is undiminished. A love story, or rather two, that starts in the Pension Bertolini in Florence. Catering for English tourists, it... read more
Blaise Pascal famously said that 'all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone".
In 1790 a young French aristocrat living in Turin is confined to a ... read more
Blaise Pascal famously said that "all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone".
In 1790 a young French aristocrat living in Turin was confined to a ... read more
A neurotic Italian businessman obsessed by his own hypochondria, Zeno Cosini recounts his early years to his psychoanalyst Dr S. With a cigarette clutched permanently between his fingers, he... read more
There are extraordinarily few books set on the island of Majorca. This is the first English translation of a novel published in Spanish in 1960, four years after Lorenç Villalonga’s The D... read more
SA was the pen name of Marta Felicina Faccio (1976-1960); this is her unforgettable autobiographical novel, published in her native Italy in 1906. Both an education sentimentale and a very e... read more
Welcome revival by Persephone of a little-known 'sensational novel': a fallen woman attempts to rehabilitate herself, and meets with little sympathy from those around her.
The tale of Cheeseman, a seedy small-time crooner who is bizarrely catapulted to fame by the media machine. First published in 1931, its success caused the author to leave Germany; she died ... read more
A sparkling, intelligent novel, first published in 1964 and just re-issued by Faber & Faber. It is set over the course of a decadent fancy dress party on a snowy New Year's Eve, with all the... read more
This is a new edition of V S Vernon Jones's translation, first published by Gregynog Press in the 1930s. The woodcuts are marvellous. Almost more for parents than children.
A hardback reissue of the dystopian novel that inspired Orwell, Huxley and many others. It also includes Ursula Le Guin's essay 'Stalin in the Soul' on the influence of Zamyatin's masterpiec... read more
A new translation of this fabulous C16th Chinese work - a wild epic, an outrageous satire, and surely one of the most exuberant works of literature the world has ever known. Based on the mon... read more
The bickering begins on Christmas morning in this incredibly dysfunctional family. Originally published in 1935 and since described as Jane Austen on drugs.